Courageous Speech

You have to love this celebration of free speech. Even though protected by a group of police officers, it seemed one young man was in danger of being torn apart by the crowd.

The L.A.P.D. had to establish a human wall to intervene to protect Daniel and a few Israel supporters who stood-up in opposition to the mob mentality of the Gaza protesters. Near the end, one of the protesters claims that Israel has no right to exist and Jews should live under Palestinian rule.

LA is a busy place, though... and there was also a protest in the other direction.

"We're very concerned about Hamas and weapons coming to Hamas," Roz Rothstein, chief executive of StandWithUs, said in a telephone interview. "What you saw was Israel trying to protect its citizens."
She said "hundreds and hundreds" of people had gathered in front of the consulate in the 6300 block of Wilshire Boulevard. Los Angeles police estimated the crowd size at about 1,000 protesters.